I was watching Carolina play in the March Madness game Sunday afternoon when I received a telephone call from a friend.

“Did you hear about the shooting in Moore County?” she asked.

I had been so wrapped up in basketball that I didn’t know what was going on in the rest of the world. It wasn’t long before I found out.

News bulletins began to pop up about Carthage and the mass killings that had gone on there. It was hard to take in.

A lone gunman starts shooting and before he is stopped eight people are dead.

My cousin was spending the afternoon with me and we talked about the tragedy, how scary it was that something like that could happen almost in our backyard.

Most of those killed were in their late 80s. One was 98.

It’s terrible to think about dying such a terrible death after living so long.

I haven’t been able to think about anything else.

Then there was the young, a 39-year-old from right here in Richmond County who had his life cut short.

Why? What caused the shooter to go off the deep end?

Will we ever know the reason why?

“Good Morning America” was full of the news Monday morning. There were pictures of the nursing home and a report from Moore County officials. Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts commented.

Basketball seemed insignificant in comparison to the shooting.

I was glad my cousin was with me to help me absorb what was going on. We enjoyed being together even though the shooting put a damper on our visit. Her birthday was Wednesday, April 1, so we had an early celebration and tried to think happy thoughts.

Later Sunday afternoon after my cousin had gone back home to Charlotte, I received a call from a friend in Cary. We visited for awhile then she asked me if I had heard the news about the shooting in Carthage. She expressed concern for the families of the victims.

My friend works part-time at a nursing home near where she lives. She confided that in recent months there had been two bomb threats. We wondered why.

Carolina won their ballgame Sunday. That’s about all the good news I know that happened that day.

I am truly sorry about the tragedy at Carthage.

Contact Lifestyle Editor Catherine Monk at 997-3111 ext. 16, e-mail cmonk@yourdailyjournal.com